Natalya Alkaev
Soldier First Class Natalya Alkaev is a Shape-Shifter currently enlisted in the military of the Alamo Empire. A small, stoic woman who seems to have difficulty with both disobeying orders and allowing people to get close to her, she nevertheless has her moments of gentleness. However, underneath her career soldier facade, she harbors many nigh-crippling insecurities, primarily caused by her siblings. Background The second child of a baker and a hunter from the shape-shifter settlement of Frkyzesz, Natalya spent the majority of her life living in her older brother's shadow. Whereas Zilny was the pinnacle of shape-shifter fitness, Natalya was small and scrawny even by shape-shifter standards; as a child, she had immense difficulty using a bow, let alone a proper melee weapon of any sort. As she grew older, Natalya found herself growing more and more frustrated with the lavish praise Zilny received for his martial prowess. The unconditional love and support her little sister Lilya was receiving from her parents certainly didn't help matters, nor did it help that Lilya seemed to be the perfect daughter. She took to drawing in her free time as a small measure of coping with her feelings, which helped slightly. Her self-loathing fed by how much better than her her two siblings seemed to be, Natalya took to wandering the swamps completely alone, completely unfazed by how suicidal the idea was. During one of these expeditions, she was ambushed by a solitary sallowpaw hunting 'outsiders'. Through a bizarre stroke of luck, Natalya managed to bring the massive Wolfgang down with her hunting knife. Bloodied and bruised from the encounter, Natalya took what she can from the sallowpaw's corpse before running as fast as she could back home. Among the belongings was a journal that was, happily enough, written in Standard. It was through this journal that the young Natalya learned of Galanias the Cometfletcher. Though her father and brother were staunchly atheistic, the goddess appealed to Natalya. After all, Galanias was a huntress, according to the sallowpaw's journal, and Natalya certainly needed every advantage she could get. Emboldened by her newfound faith, Natalya found herself doing much better on her hunts. Though she had to keep the particulars hidden from her atheistic-to-agnostic family (especially as she had learned of her new deity from a sallowpaw's journal, of all things, not to mention the actual magic she was suddenly capable of using), the thought of a higher power watching over her hunts was comforting to her. Several years later, Zilny enlisted in the Veriol military. Perhaps out of spite (and to the immense protests of the rest of her family), Natalya enlisted in the imperial military shortly afterwards. Her recruiter was surprisingly understanding of her situation, and offered a simple solution to the problem of her stature. "Why don't you just use a gun?" Mioura: The Forgotten Past MEMORIES BROKEN THE TRUTH GOES UNSPOKEN I'VE EVEN FORGOTTEN MY NAAAAAAME I DON'T KNOW THE SEASON OR WHAT IS THE REASON I'M STANDING HERE HOLDING MY BLAAAAAADE A DESOLATE PLACE, WITHOUT ANY TRACE, IT'S ONLY THE COLD WIND I FEEL IT'S ME THAT I SPITE AS I STAND UP AND FIGHT THE ONLY THING I KNOW FOR REAL THERE WILL BE BLOODSHED Image Gallery (Natalya Shrine) Natdreamer.png|Natalya by Pauline Nat.png|Natalya by Sarah Category:Fifth Dream Category:Ealdremen Player Characters